He was born May 14, 1834 and at the Battle of Trevilian Station in Virginia on June 11, 1864, he and four other soldiers were assigned to a twelve-pound-capacity brass artillery piece under direct command of Lieutenant William Egan, as part of the battery commanded by Lieutenant Alexander Pennington, within General
He received the United States militaries highest decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Battle of Trevilian Station in the American Civil War. George Armstrong Custer"s Michigan Cavalry Brigade. A squadron of cavalry led by Confederate Captain
Daniel A. Grimsley attacked their position, and a retreat was ordered.
Kennedy and Private Charles O"Neil remained at the cannon to cover the retreat of the rest of their unit, at some point becoming cut off from retreating themselves. They exhausted first their grape shot and canister shot, then their rifle and then pistol ammunition, finally being captured while continuing resistance with handspikes and sponge staffs.
(Their position and the cannon were shortly recaptured in a Union artillery and cavalry counter-attack) The captured privates were imprisoned at the Andersonville prison. Kennedy survived, and served after the war in the Regular Army, advancing to the rank of ordnance sergeant and retiring in 1891.
He died September 28, 1910 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery Little Rock, Arkansas.
His grave can be found in the Willow lot 298.
